RISE: No executions; NFL schedule coming out; Serena's pregnant

Thursday

Apr 20, 2017 at 7:00 AMApr 20, 2017 at 12:19 PM

An Arkansas judge blocks use of execution drug; Betsy DeVos will participate in joint appearance with one of her sharpest critics; Noor Salman's trial schedule could be set; and more headlines to start your Thursday, April 20, 2017.

The Associated Press

ARKANSAS CAN'T USE EXECUTION DRUG

An Arkansas judge has blocked the state from using a lethal injection after a drug company argued it was misled by the state about the use of the drug, potentially halting the state's plan to put several men to death by the end of the month.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order to McKesson Corp. The medical supply company says it sold vecuronium bromide to be used for inmate care. The drug is one of three used in Arkansas' lethal injection protocol.

The ruling came moments after the Arkansas Supreme Court granted a stay to one of two men scheduled for execution Thursday night.

HEARING THURSDAY TO SET ORLANDO SHOOTER'S WIFE'S COURT SCHEDULE

ORLANDO, Fla. — The trial of the wife of the Orlando nightclub gunman could be pushed back to next March.

A proposed trial schedule filed Wednesday in federal court would have Noor Salman's trial starting in March 2018 and lasting for 25 days.

A hearing is scheduled for Thursday to go over the schedule. Court papers filed last week had suggested the trial could start as early as June.

Salman is charged with obstruction and aiding and abetting her husband, Omar Mateen, who opened fire at the Pulse gay nightclub last June.

NFL SCHEDULE COMING OUT TONIGHT

Get ready to set book hotel rooms and begin searching online ticket brokers, NFL fans. The schedule for the 2017 NFL season will be released Thursday night.

The regular-season schedules for each team will be unveiled as part of a two-hour broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern on NFL Network.

The regular season kicks off Sept. 7 and concludes Dec. 31.

DEVOS, WEINGARTEN TO MAKE JOINT APPEARANCE

VAN WERT, Ohio — A rural northwest Ohio school district will become the center of the national education discussion Thursday when U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the president of the American Federation of Teachers visit Van Wert City Schools.

DeVos will spend much of the day in Van Wert, the 10,846-population city about 95 miles southwest of Toledo. She will be joined by one of her sharpest critics, Randi Weingarten, president of a union that represents 1.6 million members.

It is the first joint appearance for the two, whose clashing ideas about public education have put them at opposite political ends.

“I look forward to visiting the students, parents, and educators of Van Wert. Every parent should be able to send their children to a school that meets their unique needs, and for many parents, that is a public school. I support and celebrate all great schools,” said DeVos, in a written statement.